Warheart

CHAPTER 58

“What are we going to do?” Kahlan asked as she ran beside him.

Vika raced along close behind.

As they burst through the gold-sheathed double doors, Richard immediately took the hallway to the left. It was the shortest route to where he needed to go. After racing down one short flight of stairs, they took a long corridor lined with white marble. The floor was a complex wave pattern of a variety of stones, and quite slippery, so they had to slow a bit.

At the end, Richard burst out of the double doors onto a balcony above the central hallway. He immediately raced to an arched bridge high over the walkway below. He skidded to a stop near the center. Since it was the middle of the night, the skylights were dark. That meant that the hallway, lit by scores of reflector lamps, was dimly lit.

Even in the poor light that the reflector lamps provided to the grand hall, he could see that down on the floor below them it was mass chaos. Half people were everywhere, outnumbering the people and the soldiers many times over. There were dead bodies sprawled all over the place. Almost all of the dead were half people, but some weren’t. Some were people from the palace who had been caught and taken down. Half people crowded around a body, squatting down to feed on it. Blood was splattered and smeared over the marble walls and columns. Richard saw barefoot half people slip and fall on the bloody marble floor.

Richard didn’t have time to assess the situation, he simply needed to put a stop to it.

He drew his sword.

The blade came out with the metallic ring that was unique to the Sword of Truth. Richard by now had come to think of that sound as reassuring. It also came out with that same dark metallic gleam from having touched death. With the fighting and panic below, no one noticed the sound or the sight of the sword up on the dark balcony.

Richard pointed the blade out over the edge of the marble balustrade.

“There are your worldly forms,” he said. “Go to them. Return to those you were torn from if you can. Some of you will have to go a great distance to find the one to whom you belong. If they are gone from life and you find yourself still caught in this world, then come to me and we will help you cross over to eternal peace.”

In the dim light, a curtain of sparkling light peeled off the sword and unfurled out over the hallway, stretching as it went. The curtain of light wavered the way the strange lights in the night sky to the north did. They moved in long, slow, curling, undulating waves. Countless specks of light, each one a soul, together created a display that had some of the people below slowing down. Even some of the half people glanced up.

As the curtains of light drifted out over the hallway, Richard swung the sword. “Go! Find where you belong.”

With that, the specks of light scattered. Many others began to drift downward, like snowflakes in a dead-still air. All the way down the halls, as far as Richard could see, the tiny specks moved out to find the ones to whom they belonged.

“Richard,” Kahlan said in wonder, “what in the world is that? What have you done?”

“Remember the Sanctuary of Souls down in the Keep?”

“Yes,” she said as she watched the strange sight. “What about it?”

“Well, that place was built back at the time when there were wizards who were makers–like Wizard Merritt.”

“Magda’s husband?”

“That’s right. Sulachan made the half people by pulling out their souls and not letting them go to the underworld in order to keep the bodies alive. I believe that makers back then made that sanctuary for those lost souls. Those people up there at the Keep, even though the half people were sent to kill them, understood the tragic truth and felt empathy for the lost souls who had not chosen that fate, and had themselves meant no harm. So, they made those lost souls a sanctuary.”

Kahlan held her hand out toward the hall below with the dots of light drifting down. “But what is this?”

Richard shrugged. “It’s the lost souls, the ones that belong to the half people.”

Kahlan could barely contain her exasperation. “What are they doing here?”

“I went there and got them and brought them back.”

“Richard, are you crazy? You could have–”

“Look,” he said with a smile.

Kahlan turned and looked down. Everywhere half people were stopping. They quit running, quit chasing people. The ones near soldiers fell to their knees and raised their arms in surrender. The ones feeding stopped and stepped back, wiping the blood from their mouths in disgust. As the half people quit chasing victims, the screaming died out.

Throughout the halls, all of the half people slowed down and looked around in bewilderment, or amazement, or jubilation. Some started laughing with delight, looking at their own hands as if seeing them for the first time. Soldiers didn’t quite know what to make of it, but as long as the half people weren’t trying to attack and eat them, they stopped hacking the half-naked people apart.

“Come on,” Richard said. “Let’s get down there. I’m worried about the others.”

The broad stairwell of creamy stone leading down was close, and the descent quick. As they reached the lower halls, soldiers of the First File closed in protectively.

Richard still had his sword out. Along with the sword there was always the anger, but he kept it in check. He held the sword out and shook it to check to see if any more sparkles of souls would come out of it. None did, so he slid it back in its scabbard before he reached for the doors that led out into the hallway. When he opened the doors, they were confronted by the quite strange sight of the masses of half people no longer attacking anyone.

Just outside, Cassia ran over to him. “Lord Rahl! You were right! You did it! Mother Confessor, look!” Cassia pointed out at the half people milling around, blinking, laughing, crying, talking. “That’s why he left you and didn’t say where he was going. I scolded him for not telling you.”

“Yes, she did,” Richard confirmed.

Nyda and Rikka escorted Nathan and Nicci across the hall from one of the grand staircases leading up from the lower levels.

“Richard!” Nicci called out. “You’re back! We were so worried! If you ever do anything like that again I swear I will have you locked in a dungeon and only let Kahlan visit you once a week.”

Nathan peered around. “Richard, would you happen to know what in the world is going on?”

“Yes, what is happening?” Nicci asked. “It’s the same down in the lower areas, near the crypts where they were getting in. There’s been a battle raging down there for days and then all of a sudden the half people simply stopped fighting. Almost together, almost all at once, they simply stopped.”

Cassia casually pointed a thumb back at the strange scene. “Lord Rahl gave them their souls back.”

Nicci’s jaw fell open. “What?” She pointed in alarm at his hip. “How did you get your sword back? Richard! Don’t you dare tell me that you went back to the Keep and you brought the sword back through the sliph!”

“Well, actually–”

“You can’t do that! Richard, your life isn’t worth the sword.” Nicci was beside herself, hardly knowing what to complain about first. “Richard, you were told how it would make the sickness grow, how it would bring you to the cusp of death, how…”

She looked up suspiciously. “Why don’t you look sick?”

“Because I’m not. Why, do you want me to be sick?”

Not believing him and ignoring his flippant remark, Nicci pressed her fingers to his temples. She withdrew her hands in astonishment and turned to Nathan. “He’s not sick. It’s gone. Completely gone.” She turned back to Richard. “I could feel your gift. How is that possible?”

Richard took a deep breath. “Do you want me to explain, or would you rather complain?”

Nicci planted her fists on the curve of her hips and gave him a look she had apparently saved from back in the days when she was his teacher, trying to teach him to use his gifted abilities.

Kahlan turned her face away to hide her smile.

“Explain, please,” Nicci said with forced patience.

“I figured out that the only way I was ever going to be able to stop Sulachan was to send him back to the world of the dead. The easiest way to do that, since I couldn’t hope to overcome his occult abilities, was to use the poison of death I had in me. So, when I was in the underworld, and you and Kahlan brought me back, during that stretch of time in infinity when I had all the time I needed, I decided that rather than leave the sickness of death there in the world of the dead, as I had done with Kahlan, I’d rather have Sulachan in the world of the dead, so I didn’t … leave it. I kept it.”

“You lied to us?” Nicci fumed. “You told us you couldn’t leave it there. You lied?”

It was Kahlan’s turn to look astonished. “You mean to say that you deliberately kept that poison of death in you? That poison that could easily have killed you? When you know how difficult it would be to remove it in this world?”

Richard shrugged one shoulder. “Sure. It made sense to me.”

Nicci looked over at Kahlan. “It made sense to him.”

“The problem was, I feared it wasn’t strong enough–”

Nicci flicked a hand in the air. “Not strong enough. Of course. Not strong enough.”

“–So right when I found out we were going to have to face Sulachan at any moment, I went back to the Keep and retrieved the sword. Traveling in the sliph with the sword drained away most of my life force and made the poison a lot stronger. That was what I needed to kill Sulachan.”

Both women stared openly at him.

“Oh yes,” he added, “and while I was there I also collected all the souls that have been lost for the last three thousand years or so, and…” He held out his hand to where the half people were all cooperating with the soldiers who were collecting them together. He could see half people weeping, apologizing, asking forgiveness.

Nicci started waggling her finger as she shook her head at the same time. “No, no, no. Wait. How did you kill Sulachan with the death that was inside you?”

“I did the same thing the Hedge Maid did. I let it out with a scream.”

Nicci was seething to the point of being momentarily speechless. Kahlan was also being overcome with exasperation. She spoke up before Nicci could put words to her discontent.

“But the scream would have killed you, too, Richard. The sound of it is lethal. That is in fact what killed Jit.”

“But it didn’t kill us.”

Kahlan pointed at her ear. “No, because you plugged our ears with wads of cloth. And even though it didn’t kill us right away, it wasn’t good enough and so it poisoned us.”

Richard smiled as he clasped his hands. “Yes, rather poor choice, but all I had available at the time. This time I knew better. I used wax to plug my ears.”

Kahlan turned away, shaking her head, muttering about how dangerous and risky that was.

“No, no, no,” Nicci said, finally able to frame her objection. “Not so fast. It’s not that easy. You can’t just scream and have that touch of death come out. It’s not that simple.”

“Well of course not,” Richard said. “That’s why I had to use my gift.”

Nicci threw up her hand, looking away for a moment. She turned back, leaning toward him. “Your gift didn’t work! The touch of death blocked it from working!”

“Ah, I see why you’re getting confused,” Richard said, tilting his head back. “That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before I fixed my gift so it would work to do what I needed.”

Nathan, Nicci, and Kahlan were all staring openly at him.

Nicci calmed her voice. “Explain, please, Wizard Rahl, how you ‘fixed’ your gift, and what you did to make it work the way you wanted.”

“Well, I used to think it was hard,” he said. “But it’s not. Not really. Well, in this world, sure, but not there.”

“There?” Nathan swished a finger, looking like he was lost.

“In the underworld. You see, when I went there to send Kahlan back to the world of life, I removed that taint of death from her and left it there. In the underworld I had all the time I needed. Once I did it while I was there, I saw how easy it is to do if you are in the underworld. It’s kind of like when you’re in water. It’s easier to lift things in water because they seem to weigh less.”

“Your gift?” Nicci prompted, steering him back on subject.

“Well I knew how to take the poison out while there, so I did that, and then I did a similar thing with my gift.”

Nathan looked more than a little concerned. “What do you mean? Do you mean to say you removed your gift when you were there?”

Richard scratched his head as he tried to think of how to explain it. “Well, do you know how you can tie your boots without having to think about it, or watch? That’s kind of what it’s like there, in the underworld. Certain things just seem easier for me to do there. So, what I did, was to take out the poison, but hold on to it, and then take out all of my gift–”

Nathan was incredulous. “Take out your gift?”

“Well, to an extent. I kind of gathered it up because I wanted to concentrate it in one spot. It’s connected to your spirit by all these threadlike structures.… Some were broken or attached in the wrong place, so while I was at it I fixed those.… Anyway, I took it partially out, gathered it all together, and then placed it in one concentrated place to amplify its power. After that, I put the poison back in right on top of my gift and reconnected the threads of the gift that the poison had broken so that my gift would be able to respond when I called on it and then it could force all the poison out of me in a scream.”

Nathan lifted a hand as he half turned away. “Oh, I see. You’re right, that was pretty simple.”

Richard turned more serious, wanting them to know the important part they didn’t know.

“I ended prophecy.”

Nathan spun around. “What?”

Nicci held a hand out, touching Nathan’s arm to implore him to let her handle it. She knew about the Cerulean scrolls and Nathan didn’t.

“Tell us what happened, Richard. Straight answers this time, please. This is nothing to fool around with.”

Richard nodded. “You’re right. We know from the Cerulean scrolls that Regula is an underworld power. It’s not supposed to be here in the world of life any more than Sulachan. I talked to Regula and it understood. It didn’t like being here in this world where it doesn’t belong. In a way, I guess you could say it was homesick. So, I killed it, which is actually what it wanted because that sent it back to where it belonged.

“I exposed the boxes of Orden, keyed to the sword, to the call of death, in order to link Orden into both worlds being pulled together in the spectral fold, along with the other elements that were releasing at the same time, in order to allow the power of Orden to complete the spectral fold that had been initiated by me using the sword previously, and by using the other side–death–which had been pulled into this world with Regula.

“You might say I brought both the worlds of life and death together for an instant so they could realign properly. Death took Regula back into the world of the dead, and with it prophecy. Regula, which is the power of prophecy, is now locked in the world of the dead and with it prophecy, which therefore means prophecy died. Prophecy in this world is ended. With the spectral fold complete, and the Twilight Count ended, it can’t come back into the world of life any more than the dead can come back to life. At least from here on out. The time when that could happen is over. The phase change is over. Sulachan can’t ever come back.”

Nicci held her temples between her fingers on one side and thumb on the other. “Thank you, Richard, for not telling Kahlan and me all of this before you left.”

Richard made a face. “Really?”

“Yes, because I would have killed you and then Kahlan would be a widow again, and she didn’t like it the first time.”

Richard saw Kahlan smile.

“Lord Rahl knew that you would be angry with him when we left, but he had it all under control right from the beginning,” Cassia said.

“He did, did he?” Kahlan asked.

Cassia nodded earnestly. “He said that he would just ask for forgiveness later.”

Nathan laughed out loud. His laughter was infectious and Kahlan couldn’t keep herself from laughing with him.

Nicci rolled her eyes. “You did good, Richard. Really. I wish I could have taught you to do half of those things. One day you will have to teach me.”

“I promise,” Richard said with a smile.

Richard spotted people moving out of the way for someone running. At first it was hard to see because of all the people crowded into the hall, but then his level of concern rose when he caught a flash of red leather.

Soldiers stepped back out of the way for a Mord-Sith running at full speed. She didn’t even bother looking at all the soldiers, she simply expected them to get out of her way.

The Mord-Sith raced up and leaped onto Richard, throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. The impact staggered him back a step.

“Lord Rahl! Lord Rahl!” She squeezed the breath out of him. “I heard you were back in the palace, but I was defending some people and couldn’t come until now. I’m so happy to see you. I’m so happy that you and the Mother Confessor are back. I’ve missed you something fierce.”

Richard hugged her and patted her back as he grinned. “I’ve missed you, too, Berdine.”

While her eyes were bright blue, Berdine’s wavy hair was brown rather than blond. She was shorter and curvier than most of the other Mord-Sith. She was full of bubbly enthusiasm. Even so, she was no less deadly than any of the other Mord-Sith.

She still had her legs locked around his waist with her ankles hooked together. “Lord Rahl, I’ve found some books of prophecy that I think you would want to see.”

“We’re going to have to talk about the books of prophecy.”

Berdine flicked her Agiel up into her hand. “It works again. Did you fix it?”

Richard gave her a lopsided smile. “I fixed it.”

She patted his chest. “You are a good Lord Rahl.”

She turned to Kahlan. “I’m so happy to see you back, Mother Confessor. We’ve all missed you.”

“Nice to see you, too, Berdine.” Kahlan gestured at Berdine’s legs around Richard. “Leave some for me, will you?”

Berdine giggled and hopped down.

Vika leaned closer. “Lord Rahl, do you allow Mord-Sith to … hug you?”

Berdine grinned up at the taller woman. “No, just me. I’m his favorite.”

“We don’t have favorites,” Kahlan said. “We love you all the same.”

“I know,” Berdine said with a mischievous grin. “He loves us all equally. Except me. He loves me more. Because I’m his favorite.”

“You … love the Mord-Sith?” Vika asked Richard, looking truly puzzled.

Richard shrugged. “What’s not to love?”

He turned when a group of soldiers rushed over to where he and the rest of them were standing. General Zimmer was leading them.

“Lord Rahl, we have a problem.”

Richard instantly went on high alert. They were surrounded and outnumbered many times over by half people. He checked that his sword was free in its scabbard.

“What’s wrong?”

The general glanced around without looking obvious. “Notice how they are all closing in tighter to you over here?”

“I can’t really see much past the closer throngs.”

“Well, we’ve got archers stationed all around you, up high, and they have been watching the way the Shun-tuk are all inching closer to you. They are all saying they want to tell you something. And it’s not just inside. They all seem to be able to, I don’t know, sense you. It’s not just here, either. Men are reporting from all over the palace that they are gathering near this area of the palace on the lower floors. Outside, the multitudes out there have all closed in and are standing there, as if waiting for something.”

“Well, what do they want?” Cassia asked defensively.

“They all seem to want to say something to Lord Rahl.”

Richard scanned the throng and the area. He pointed off to the left a little.

“There is an old devotion square over there. It’s got a short wall around it. I can stand up there so I can see better, and they can see me better. Let’s see what they have to say.”

The general frowned. “Are you sure? An hour ago they were all trying to eat us. We don’t know anything about these people.”

“I do,” Richard said as he started toward the devotion square. “I know the spirits of these people.”

Rikka and Nyda took up a position on the left, with Cassia and Vale on the right. Berdine led the way. Vika guarded their rear so that Nathan, Nicci, General Zimmer, Kahlan, and Richard were pretty securely surrounded by Mord-Sith.

When he reached the old devotion square, Richard stepped up on the short wall around the pool of water. He realized he couldn’t see as well as he had hoped, so he climbed up on top of the dark rock in the center. He stood up straight, looking out over the throng, and rested his left hand on the Sword of Truth. Ordinarily there were a lot of people in the palace, but with the Shun-tuk those numbers had swelled considerably.

He noticed Shun-tuk at all the fountains, washing the whitewash and paint that made them look like skulls off their faces.

“I am Richard Rahl,” he said out over the masses he saw. They all stared in silence. “I am told you would like to say something to me.”

As one the entire mass of people all went down on their knees and bent forward, putting their foreheads to the floor.

And then, in one voice, every person in the vast halls, on every floor, and out on the plains, said,

“Master Rahl guide us.”

Richard was stunned at the thousands of voices all speaking as one. The sound was like rolling thunder.

“Master Rahl teach us.”

Richard looked to Kahlan. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she looked up at him.

“Master Rahl protect us.”

Nicci covered her mouth in awe.

“In your light we thrive.”

In unison, the mass of voices all spoke the next lines of the devotion.

“In your mercy we are sheltered.”

“In your wisdom we are humbled.”

“We live only to serve.”

“Our lives are yours.”

Richard was too choked up to say anything.

One man rose from the floor. The rest stayed bowed down. He was old and frail, painted with the whitewash, although the skeletal face had been mostly wiped away.

“Lord Rahl,” he said in a voice that carried through the entire hall, over the heads of all the people, “you are the first since our souls were torn from us, to help us. Thank you, Lord Rahl, for guiding our spirits back to where they belong, back to us, back to who we are as people.”

Richard swallowed. He wiped a tear from his cheek, and could only nod, fearing to test his voice right then.